As Of Yet Untitled
by Lord-Emmanuel-Darkov
Summary: A human find himself on Sauria and must choose if he will aid a broken world. Please R&R. I appreciate any "constructive criticism" Please, no flames.
1. A Good Samaritan

Speaking "you are such an idiot"

Thinking 'I can't believe he did that'

Unknown Salt Flat-Utah, USA Earth

A jet is seen screaming across the dried salt bed performing maneuvers that are considered insane and suicidal by ninety-nine percent of the population. However, pilot's thoughts couldn't be any more different. As it comes to a stop at the far side of the bed, the operator of the machine, who is completely clad in black jacket, pants, and steel toed boots, lifts himself out of it and quickly removes his pitch black helmet. With his face finally revealed, the man ties his long black hair out of his steel grey eyes into a ponytail with his bangs framing his face that was as white as bone china. The adrenaline junky couldn't seem to get the smirk off of his lips at the success of one of his greatest works (_see Stealth E.D.I._). After he walks from his sleek, matte black machine to stand under one of its wings, he slumps to the ground and rests against his creation until the adrenaline leaves his system and his heart stops pounding.

The 26 year old's name is Kevin Blake aka "Arcana" to his friends and those he respects. The call sign stems partly from his deep interest into metaphysical ideas and so called abilities even though is deeply skeptical about such things, and partly because of his skill at finding the most hidden of knowledge. After gathering all the data from his equipment about his test run, Arcana parks his plane into the back of a specially modified semi-truck _(see Universal Soldier)_ to transport his plane, equipment, supplies for an emergency, as well as crates and crates of weapons and explosives. While his jet could outclass anything that law enforcement agencies had, it was still illegal and he would rather not have the government find out about his tech. He also chose this particular vehicle because of the fact that the tech used in his jet is so desirable that he need to be able to defend against military grade operations. Why is it so special, well it is because of the power source that he developed that supplies energy for it, it is no combustion or electrical source, it causes them to pale in comparison. At the heart of the hypersonic jet lies a zero point reactor (_see arc reactor, Iron Man_), allowing limitless power but also limitless destructive capability due to it actually being a controlled black hole. After making sure everything is tightly secured, Arcana climbs into the driver's seat, and engages the systems for the truck which is also powered by a ZPE reactor. Starting down the road to his house, he loses himself in the monotony of the barren roads and comfortably warm day. Arcana is suddenly yanked out of his daze by the sudden appearance of a desert storm. Replacing the flight helmet removed earlier and turning his full attention to the road to ready himself for the hazardous driving conditions to come, Arcana could never had been prepared for what happened next. Suddenly a large lightning bolt streaked down from the sky, again, again, and again.

"Where the fuck did this storm come from, and damn this is a wicked light show," is the exclamation that flies from his mouth as he is trying desperately to prevent being hit. Swerving to avoid a strike and be flash-fried, it soon shows that he is only delaying the inevitable, being the only source of metal for miles around. The strikes increase in frequency and it becomes impossible to avoid, and the last thing to be uttered before his world turns black is,

"Fuck me……"

Unknown Location Sauria

Arcana begins to stir as he regains consciousness, 'Oh, what the fuck hit me, it feels like my brain was bashed out with a lemon wrapped around a gold brick,' he suddenly jumps into full awareness as he remembers the crash. Arcana quickly takes off his seatbelt and begins to check for any injuries, surprised at his luck, he quickly sags in relief and realization at how bad his condition would have been if he had worn a regular leather outfit instead of his specially made Kevlar clothes. Looking around, he almost screams in shock at his new surroundings but remains outwardly calm. Inside his heart and mind are racing at the change from barren desert salt beds to a lush tropical forest. While part of his mind is still trying to wrap itself around his situation, the other half is forming a plan of action in order to survive. Checking his truck over a breath he didn't know was held, was released at finding it completely intact, minus a few scratches in the paint, and operative.

'Great, if this was busted then my stay here would be a whole lot harder,' he thought with a relieved smile. Removing his helmet, Arcana begins to outfit himself with a silenced 9mm Glock pistol, a small med-kit, a monocular, and a notepad w/ pen for his trek into the surrounding area to scout for anything useful. After camouflaging his truck to be indistinguishable from the vegetation, he begins his walk. A few hours since he began his outing, Arcana's luck is still holding out, he has found a outcropping in a nearby hillside and a source of fresh water in a river that was a few hundred meters from the hill.

"Wonderful," is the sarcastic comment that come from the stranded Arcana,

"usually when my luck is good for this long some-"

a crash is heard through the brush and trees, followed by a loud scream, obviously female, "-thing happens."

Biting back the sigh that would surely escape, Arcana begin his sprint towards the origin of the noise. Following the sounds of the attack, Arcana quickly happens upon a very strange scene. A large dinosaur is stalking towards what appears to be an unconscious blue bipedal fox slumped against the trunk of a fallen tree, cursing his curiosity for the hundredth time, Arcana slowly draws his pistol from his underarm holster and carefully aims for what would be a weak spot in the underbelly. He squeezes off tree quick shots, and the hollow point rounds pierce its heart, efficiently dispatching the large creature. Not moving, Arcana listens to check if the near silent pops of the handgun have attracted the attention of the creature's possible friends. Satisfied, he dashes over to the unmoving fox, only slightly surprised at it being female, and checks the severity of her injuries. Finding them to be not life threatening, Arcana quickly treats and bandages what he can find. Realizing that he can't leave her alone with the fact that she would be vulnerable, he lets a quiet groan escape and carefully lifts the fox into his arms and walks back toward his newly made campsite. Upon reaching his camp he shifts the vines away that are camouflaging the overhang and lowers his passenger upon the small cloth bedroll, not unlike a futon, and after checking her injuries once more he concerns himself with building a small fire near the entrance. Sitting against the wall, Arcana relaxes as he watches over his guest, slowly he drifts into a light sleep encase anything approaches and sets off the motion detector set five meters from the cave entrance. Snapping his eyes open, Arcana is completely aware without going through the drowsy in-between state, something that while freaks most people out will come in very handy in this unknown setting. Finding that his patient is still unconscious, whether from sleep or yesterday's fight is unknown, he stirs the ashes of last night's fire and sets a wireless heart rate monitor on the vixen's wrist which alert him to any change the state of her health. Walking out of the shallow cavern, he can see that the sun has just appeared above the horizon,

"heh, even on another planet I still wake up when the sun rises,"

is his amused comment at his situation. Deciding that after witnessing a dinosaur attack, he needs to scout a greater area around his campsite, Arcana sets of at a brisk run towards the place that he encountered the blue furred fox. When he reaches the dinosaur's corpse, he begins to search the surrounding area for signs of more creatures similar to the one left rotting. After finding more tracks proving that there were more dinosaurs, Arcana begins to extend search area, when suddenly the alarm tied to the wrist monitor goes off with a small electrical shock. Turning around, Arcana runs quickly back to the overhang to prevent further injury by panic. Fifteen minutes later, Arcana arrives to find the fox attempting to get out of the cave, but only succeeding to stumble against the wall. Deciding that enough was enough, he walks into the cave just in time to prevent her from falling after her last attempt at walking,

"easy now, you just woke up and you most likely have a concussion from your little scuffle yesterday,"

he tries to calm her down as he picks her up bridal style and lays her down on the cushion. When she tries to get up again he places a hand against her shoulder and pushes her back down,

"Who are you, how did I get here, where am I, what are you…" Raising a hand in order to stem the flow of questions,

"I was about to tell you if you would let me get a word in," laughing after seeing the sheepish look on her face he begins,

"in order, you can call me Arcana, I carried you, you are in a small cavern a short distance from where you fell unconscious as a result of your fight, and I am a human." At seeing her confused expression he elaborates,

"I am not from around here, and I am stranded," seeing her look at the bandages and frowning,

"I treated your injuries the best I could when you were unconscious, but now that you are awake could you please look at this light and follow it please," he says as he pulls a small penlight out of his pocket and shines it in her eyes,

"you seem to just have a small concussion, it will be fine and I suggest resting and not getting into anymore death-matches with raptors anymore,"

"they're sharpclaws," she interrupts,

"what?"

"The things that were chasing me, they're sharpclaws," she explains.

'Now that explains everything,' he thought as he barely refrained from rolling his eyes at the thought. A silence fell over them as their conversation stopped, the only noise coming from Arcana changing the dressings on her wounds. Suddenly Arcana started chuckling, startling his patient,

"you know, I don't even know your name, or should I just keep referring to you as the patient?" He asks with a smirk," and she smiles a little too as she answers,

"sorry, my name is Krystal and thank you for your help, but I have to get out of here,"

To which he waves off the thanks, stating,

"no problem, and you aren't going anywhere with a concussion or you will tear open the cuts that came from the sharpclaw, so get comfortable," as she starts to protest he asks why she is in such a hurry,

"this planet has been broken apart because someone has taken the spellstones and if they aren't returned soon, the planet with fall apart and I am the only one who can fix it."

After hearing her obviously summarized explanation his expression is one of exasperation as he responds,

"well, I can't in my right mind let you go anywhere before you sufficiently heal, probably by tomorrow or early the next, so while you heal I'll look take a look around,"

Krystal, realizing that there was no point arguing, hangs her head in defeat. Grinning at his victory, Arcana decides to strike up conversation and learn about Sauria,

"what is happening at the moment around here anyways?"

"Well right now the sharpclaw army is trying to take over Sauria and there are also the landwalkers and cloudrunners who I am friends with and may be able to help," after putting away that for later, he decides to eat something, walking over to his bike, as he opens a compartment, he calls over to Krystal, "hey, you want something to eat?"

"yeah, thanks," and he pulls out freeze-dried MREs. Arcana pours some water into them and stirs, then he places them on the hot ashes of what is left of the previous night's fire to heat them. As the food begins to heat, he takes out a sketchbook from a duffel bag that he filled the previous night to prevent anyone from discovering that he has working vehicles and quite a weapons cache in order for it to be an ace up his sleeve, just in case of an emergency, and begins creating a map of the surrounding area with any landmarks or useful information. As he creates the map, Arcana keeps an eye on the food to prevent it from burning and becoming inedible to either of them as it would be unwise to become ill. With the food and map taking up most of Arcana's attention, he doesn't notice Krystal observing him and his gear, so when she speaks it catches him off guard and his startled jolt causes his pencil to skitter across the page.

"what are you, you told me you are human but I've never held of that species, so where did you come from," she asks, "and why were you around when I was attacked?"

Pulling the food off the ashes and erasing the mark in his book, he tries to ease her suspicions,

"I came from a planet named Earth or Terra, I was going back to my house when I was caught in a storm and crashed," he responds,

"and when I woke up I was against a tree not far from here, and for why I was there when you were attacked, I was searching farther into the area around this camp in hopes of finding anything useful." Put slightly at ease by his answer, Krystal sits up and takes the food from Arcana's hands as he passes it to her. A comfortable silence falls as the two begin eating their meals, only broken by the clank of utensils or the scratching of Arcana's pencil in his sketchbook. Setting down the empty container and his finished maps, he stands and pulls out a small Bluetooth headset,

"I'm going back out to look for any signs of sharpclaw or a better place to stay for shelter, we may need to defend ourselves. Put this on and if something happens and you need to contact me, then say 'call Arcana' and I will be in contact." He hands her a small tazer gun,

"if something comes in, then shoot it with this, it isn't lethal but if it continues to struggle then pull the trigger again until it complies." While she looks uneasy at first, the non-lethal information removes her reluctance to use a firearm.

"I'll be back by sundown," and he steps out of the shelter and starts his jog into the forest and after twenty minutes of continuous movement, he reached the carcass, or where it should have been if it hadn't been taken away considering the drag marks. A couple hours later, Arcana was resting against a tree after completing a full survey of everything within a mile of the campsite. Slowly getting back to his feet Arcana begins heading out further from the camp, not long after he comes across a site that fills him with dread

Through his monocular, his vision is filled with the sight of a sharpclaw encampment that is roughly a kilometer away. As Arcana stares awestruck at the site of a sharpclaw base, his mind is overrun with thoughts, the most prominent being, 'fucking damn it, Murphy hates me.'

The shock is quickly overcome and he begins to plan for the difficulties ahead. Stowing his scope back into the duffel bag slung across his shoulders, he slowly makes his way down the ridge towards the enemy's encampment. He quietly darts across the ground, ducking behind any and all available cover. Arcana presses his panting body against the wall of the compound, quickly trying to slow his breathing and heart rate down in order to prevent any paranoia-induced panic from overwhelming him while inside.

Backing up, Arcana runs up and over the side of the wall. He lands lightly on the balls of his feet and stays completely still as he listens for any signs of detection. Satisfied at finding none, Arcana begins mapping the sharpclaw base, marking anything significant on his notebook. While he is searching, Arcana has had several close calls at being detected by random sharpclaws that are around the compound, but his luck has held out so far. Neither having a death wish nor being willing to risk exposing Krystal's location, he knows that his luck won't hold out forever; therefor, he has chosen to investigate one final building before leaving as quickly as possible. After discovering a small ventilation shaft that is hidden from view, Arcana removes a flexible fiber-optic camera, that is as big around as a pencil, from his bag and slides it through the spaces in the grates. Keeping an eye out for guards while he watches the screen, he manipulates the video feed, attempting to see anything useful or worth mention. As he pans around the room, he quickly sweeps back across the wall and is rewarded with a map of Sauria in its entirety. Silently crowing at his good fortune, Arcana records a copy of the map in the camera's memory as he skims the map for anything immediately helpful.

Suddenly his heart skips a beat and his face goes deathly pale, as he he absorbs the small marking on the map...right...at...the...cave...

'Oh shit they found us,' immediately packing the camera away, Arcana heads toward the boundary wall, taking the shortest possible route and avoiding any posted sentries. He quickly scales the wall and begins a full out run towards the campsite, as soon as he has put a good amount of distance between himself and the overgrown lizards, he begins trying to get a hold of Krystal,

"Krystal, are you there, goddammit Krystal answer me," were his near frantic calls.

"What, what is it, what's wrong?"

is the response that came out of the headset, she is obviously unsettled by his hurried words.

"The sharpclaws may have found our cave we need to get out of this area now, I need you to pack up everything at the camp and leave absolutely nothing behind, can you do that?"

He could hear her gasp and hoped that she wouldn't panic, but his worries were unfounded due to her response,

"Alright, how far away are you and what should i do after everything is packed away?"

Feeling himself grin slightly at how her tone could be almost mistaken for calm, he asks,

"Do you know the large tree that hangs over the the nearby river?"

"Yes, I know where it is, why?"

"There is a hollow made by the roots, crawl in and remain quiet until I get there, and keep the tazer gun ready"

"Alright, be careful Arcana"

"Don't worry, I will be fine"

Closing the connection, he turns all of his energy and focus towards making it to the river faster.

Running as quickly as he was, Arcana couldn't see everything that lay in his path; and as such, he wasn't able to spot the object that caused him to trip and fall upon the forest floor. Pushing himself up from the dirt, he curses whatever had caused him to fall, as he stands he sees a glint of something gold in the underbrush. He walks over and pries the offending item from the ground. His inspection reveals it to be a staff of some kind, it is constructed of a golden material with blue runes etched into it. At the top of it, the staff widened and had a crystal of the same color as the runes set into the center. When he holds the staff, he notices a slight tingling in his hand, it wasn't unpleasant, it was just there.

Shrugging it off and pushing the feeling aside he places the staff into his ever present duffel bag and continues towards the checkpoint and could only hope that Krystal makes it to the hollow before she was found by the sharpclaws.


	2. Breaking And Entering

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Speaking "you are such an idiot"

Thinking 'I can't believe he did that'

Computer / A.I. "I can't let you do that Dave."

* * *

As Arcana continues his dash, his mind is racing through progressively darker and darker possibilities, a habit ingrained through years of staying off of government and corporate radar.

"Damn it! There are too many unknowns: how long have they known about my camp, have they already acted on it, what will they do," is the frustrated muttering that flows out of his mouth as he runs towards his charge, while he checks his gun and clip. 'Alright, I have two clips, I hope that they aren't wearing body armor 'cause that would just be perfect,' re-holstering the sidearm, the scream that he hears across the headset nearly sends him into the ground for the second time to date,

"They're here, the sharpclaws cut me off before I could make it to the tree, where are you Arcana, I need your help," her panicked words, "they're catching up to me, I can't get caught, please where are..." Her transmission is cut short and all that can be heard is static. Arcana goes cold as the words repeat over and over in his head, 'they're here, the sharpclaws, where are you.' The worry, frustration, and guilt are ruthlessly shoved down and a cold, machine-like logic takes over his thought process.

Arcana heads towards where Krystal's last known position. Going over what he knew, the realization that the sharpclaws hadn't tried to kill her immediately tells him that they wanted her alive. Remembering that the sharpclaws had flight capabilities, if the flying galleons were any indication, and that there were multiple bases within a couple hundred miles, the basis of a plan forms in his mind. Tapping a second button on his earpiece, "State Security Authorization," is the calm voice that comes across the speaker.

"Authorization Kyle Blake, Arcana-Omicron-0-0-1,"

"Confirmed, state orders and mission parameters."

"Begin warm-up sequence, fill the reservoirs for the AP guns, and load a S.A.R. (Search And Rescue) ordinance package."

"Orders received, Estimated Time to completion: 56 minutes."

Cutting the connection, he soon comes upon an area of trampled brush, following it leads him to a small clearing that was obviously made recently. Scouring the area, he notices something in a tree, pulling himself up he works his way towards the upper branches and grabs a medium sized duffel bag that had been snared by a branch. Checking the contents, he finds that it is the bag that contained the items at the cave, slinging it across his back to rest with his own bag and begins the search anew. Further inspection of the clearing allows him to spot two furrows in the dirt, indicative of drag marks, which he follows in order to possibly gain some insight as to where they went.

A few hundred meters away is where the trail ends and a new search must begin, as there are no footprints anywhere in the area besides his own, Arcana pulls out his monocular and starts panning across the cloudless sky in hopes of spotting a ship. Five minutes of continuous searching pushes his frustration higher and higher, when he was about to stop he notices a small object on the horizon and instantly begins attempting to bring it into focus. Ignoring the small ache in the back of his eyes he is rewarded with the sight of a sharpclaw vessel that is heading even farther away. Lowering the scope, Arcana hangs his head with a sigh as he turns towards his hidden vehicle.

"You better be alright when I find you, because I am definitely not cracked enough to start talking to a volleyball," is the quiet warning uttered as he begins yet another run, only this one would come with the promise of an air strike.

A half hour later, Arcana walks up to his truck that he had skillfully camouflaged in order to prevent any curiosity towards it. The two days worth of jungle growth over his truck hasn't hurt either so he decides to leave the truck covered. Walking over to the rear, he enters a lengthy pass-code which is followed by a scan of his palm, as the computer is confirming his identity he recalls a quote that causes low, dark laughter to hang in the air, 'it isn't paranoia if they are actually out to get you.'

A quiet ping is the only sound of acknowledgment before the back end of the truck folds out to form a ramp for the jet. Striding up the ramp, Arcana sees the robotic manipulators arming his masterpiece and he hears the quiet hum of the reactor cycling through the start-up sequence. He walks over to one of the lockers at the front of the trailer and pulls out a black set of clothes that is a Kevlar-Nomex weave which will protect him from fires up to 700 degrees and small caliber arms fire, hopefully they won't have anything larger than a .357 or he would be really in trouble. The clothes were designed to also present a psychological factor because if you can get in their head and make them fear you, then you've already won. After donning the outfit, Arcana turns to the computer interface(_see Minority Report_) and downloads the picture of the map from the base he visited and the video clip from the scope's memory card in order to figure out where they took Krystal.

Running through the data, Arcana begins putting the puzzle together, "According to the map, there are thirteen outposts in that direction," he enlarges the screen, "if they kept at their current speed they could reach any of these four," the screen splits and a more detailed description of each of the four appears, "but only this one has the resources for a ship like that, a cellblock for prisoners, and a command center for those in charge."

With the one station on-screen, he begins creating a plan of attack while he make his way to the weapons lockers near the jet. Opening the locker he removes two rifles which add to his own silenced 9mm, one is a custom designed battle rifle which fires a large .50BMG SLAP (Saboted light armor penetrator) round from a 20 round clip and is equipped with an under-slung 40mm grenade launcher. The other is the very powerful C-10 Canister Rifle which is more of an anti-armor weapon. Carrying the two heavier weapons and their ammo over to the jet, he opens a compartment next to the cockpit and locks the guns into the appropriate niches. As an afterthought, Arcana grabs a couple blocks of C-4 and puts them in the duffel bag, next to the first-aid kit in the compartment. Locking the hatch shut, an errant thought brings a smirk to his face, "Rule Two: Peace through superior firepower. And always bring a gun to a sword fight."

Finished with all the preparations, Arcana sets the computer to lock down the truck after he wheels the plane out. After he sets the command a calm voice interrupts his thoughts,

"Warm-up complete and S.A.R. weapons package is loaded, ready for flight and combat."

"Acknowledged," and Arcana uses the powered track set in the floor to move the jet out and onto the ground.

Opening the cockpit, he seats himself and closes the hatch, and pressurizes the cabin.

"Initiate Ion Thrusters, call-sign for E.D.I set for 'Havoc', Confirm Command"

"Command Confirmed, E.D.I. recognizes call-sign 'Havoc', stealth is 100 percent operational"

Lifting off of the ground, a bloodthirsty grin overtakes Arcana's face as he prepares for full thrust, "they so don't know who they're fucking with," the last thing to be heard in the clearing before he is forced into the seat as the fighter accelerates rapidly towards his target is crazed sadistic laughter. Leaving behind nothing but a whirl of leaves and dust.

Shooting up through the clouds, he can't help but revel in the rush of adrenaline coming from piloting. Reaching 80,000 feet, Arcana levels off, after setting his course to the sharpclaw base he accelerates to just below Mach 1 which will prevent a sonic boom from occurring and revealing him and the E.D.I. With the autopilot controlling his flight for the moment, Arcana begins working out all of the details for the rescue mission with E.D.I.

"When we near the base you will begin reducing speed and come to a complete stop above the encampment, then enable silent running and decrease altitude to 10 meters. After such, you will climb to 500 meters and maintain that altitude except to prevent discovery or when I make contact, Confirm."

"Command Confirmed, but I must warn you that the probability of making it in and out of the base undetected is less than 30 percent, if you are killed than I must enact the Scorched Earth Protocols," is the calm acknowledgment. Unfazed, Arcana answers,

"Understood, if I am KIA, then you will follow protocol and destroy any evidence of my technology after glassing the entire area, 10 kilometers in every direction."

Accepting the statement, E.D.I. begins the descent as Arcana racks the slide on the pistol and replaces it into the shoulder holster. Reaching 10 meters above the ground next to the roof of a building, the pilot's hatch opens, Arcana leans out to open the storage hatch. He grabs the duffel bag first and quietly tosses it onto the roof, followed by himself with the canister rifle strapped to his back and the battle rifle hanging from a tactical sling on his shoulder. Landing in a crouch, he stays completely still as both he and E.D.I. check for someone having noticed the noise. Receiving confirmation that it was clear, he slung the bag across his back to rest next to the canister rifle, saluting his ride as it disappeared into the night sky, he turned and began his search of the compound.

At least an hour later, Arcana was beginning to worry that she wasn't here or that they had decided to kill her. Shaking those kinds of thoughts out of his head, he continued his search, checking every building and ship for signs that she is still there and tucking C-4 with remote detonators away in various places like a demented pack rat, "Mark this one as F-7." Suddenly a door opens in front of him and two sharpclaw guards walk through; and much to his surprise, he can understand them.

"General Scales was sure was angry when the fox escaped us before, good thing we caught her in the forest."

"Yeah, I don't get why her wants to keep her prisoner instead of just killing her now."

"Shh, quiet, that kind of talk will get you in big trouble and Scales isn't in the best of moods right now since she won't wake up since they brought her in."

"Yeah, that's pretty weird..."

Arcana doesn't hear anymore of the conversation as the guards turn a corner, but he doesn't really care because he knows that Krystal is here and now he has a pretty good idea of where she is in the compound. Since this base was much larger than the one he cased earlier, there were a lot more buildings which meant tht he could travel across the rooftops instead of having to worry about the sentries posted on the ground as long as he didn't make too much noise.

Finally locating the medical compound, Arcana searches for any way inside; unfortunately , the only ways in besides the multiple doors that had posted guards, were two air ducts that were much too small for him to fit through. Grinding his teeth at the hell about to be unleashed, Arcana draws his silenced pistol and prepares to drop down onto the two guards standing at the most secluded entrance. Remembering a quote from a long time ago, he whispers it as he falls upon the unsuspecting guards, "Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee."

Landing on top of the guards, crumpling under the sudden weight, he raises him gun and snaps off two quick shots, one for each of the guards through the back of their skull. Looking through the door and not seeing anyone on the other side, Arcana drags the two corpses inside to delay their discovery and begins moving through the halls like a wraith, swiftly and silently bringing an instant death for any that he comes across. Eventually his searches bear fruit and he comes upon the room in which Krystal is being kept but unfortunately, the command staff decided to post additional guards at her door. Pressed against the wall, Arcana counts down from three and whirls around the corner looking for all intensive purposes, Death itself coming to claim them. Too stunned to react, the guards are efficiently cut down and nothing remains between him and the rescuee. Opening the door to her room he was glad to see that she was alive and unharmed, but grew concerned at how far the underlying damage went. The table she was on had a very large variety of medical equipment attached to it, while not knowing their exact function, he knew their purpose and that every item of machinery is built to fulfill a function. Therefore logic dictates that if you know the purpose you know the function.

The machinery beeped, buzzed and hummed which he assumed was at least somewhat normal. The Cerinian was comatose and lashed to the table by thick leather straps and connected by various tubes and wires to the machinery, as well as a clear plastic mask placed around her muzzle. She looked like a patient in a screwed up medical drama, but he hoped she would make it. Checking her vitals and studying the readouts from the various machines as well as the small discolored portion near the base of her neck, soon enough he wasn't able to bite back a sigh after coming to a conclusion on what was wrong with her. "Damn this is pathetic, you would think that they would be able to treat something like this,"

Disconnecting the IV, unstrapping the restraints, and removing the breathing mask, he set his bag down and removed the medical kit. Flipping around the numerous supplies, a triumphant, "A-ha," signals that he has found the needed medicine.

Pulling the cap off the end of the syringe, flicking the needle and pushing any air bubbles out, he rolls her over and injects the neural inhibitor into the base of her neck, just above the discoloration. A minute passes by, then another and another, and Arcana begins to doubt whether or not she would wake up, when finally her fingers begins to flex and her eyelids slowly begin to open as if they were weighed down with lead. Krystal slowly raises her arms to her eyes and rubs them as if this were all just a hallucination, which given the circumstances, might be a possibility, 'wait, did I just say that I might be a hallucination...weird.'

Tilting her her sideways, the questioning look is easily seen all over her face, "Arcana?"

"No, my name is Arc-2000, you've been asleep for nearly 120 years."

"WHAT!?"

"Shhh, dammit be quiet, I was just messing with you," putting one his hands in front of him to emphasize that he was joking while the other was holding his currently in pain ribs. "Do you remember anything about what happened?"

"I remember being chased by sharpclaw soldiers, and then nothing.." her brows furrowing as she tried to recall anything else.

"You were knocked out by some kind of stun weapon, you were captured and taken to a sharpclaw base, which is where we are now." His hand quickly shot out to cover her mouth as he could foresee the shout that would have surely alerted any nearby guards. "Quiet, I'm getting you out of here," as he turns to pick up his bag, he hears what sounds like a whimper, then a quiet, hopeless admission, "I can't move my legs."

Turning around, he smacks himself in the head for forgetting something like, "Hold on a sec," grabbing the second syringe from behind his ear, he pulls the cap off the end of the syringe, flicking the needle and pushing any air bubbles out."You are healed.," he sticks her in the thigh, smirking when he is rewarded with an, "Ouch!",

"Rise and walk."

"Are you insane?"

"In the Bible, they just say, "Yes, Lord" and start on in with the praising."

"What did you do?"

"What did you do, Lord?"

Seeing that she seriously thought that he was mental, and recalling that they were on a time crunch, he slings the bag over his shoulder and turns to her, "Come on and get up, we don't have that much time before the stimulant wears off and the missing guards," suddenly alarms are blaring throughout the compound, calling for soldiers about an intruder, "-are noticed."

"Shit!! Come on, we have to get out of here now!"

Grabbing his rifle, he rushed to the door and after checking, he ran through it with Krystal right on his heels even though she was still looking at him as if he was touched in the head.

Ignoring the funny look that she was giving him, Arcana continued to run through the halls, scanning each one for the soldiers that were sure to come. Being lucky so far, Arcana hopes that their luck hold out a little longer but alas; it isn't meant to be because as they round the next corner, they come face to face with a full squad of 10 sharpclaw troopers.

"OH FUCK," grabbing Krystal and throwing her back around the corner, he uses the sudden momentum to throw off the soldiers' aim, and doesn't hesitate to open fire as the bullets miss his body my mere inches.

Unfortunately, the enemy shooters didn't have any similar luck or the protection of effective body armor, not that it would have done them any good, seeing as the .50 caliber rounds in his rifle were capable of punching through five inches of heat treated steel. Even though he only fires five rounds, they tear through them like rice paper and continue on through each and every body in the narrow hall. The effect is immediate, the walls and floors for twenty feet back were painted with whatever was the color of the soldiers brains and organs.

"All clear," his words echoed through the now quiet and remodeled hallway. As Krystal walks out, she knew that they were dead but wasn't prepared for the level of destruction wrought by the rifle, "Goddess above."

Seeing her waiver at the sight of the bodies, Arcana grabs her arm and drags her further down the corridor, seeming unaffected by the squishing and popping of flesh and organs underneath his heavy boots.

Focusing completely on the task of getting out alive and mostly unharmed, Arcana misses the look of fear and anxiety that Krystal gives him after the shock of the ruthlessness of his reaction.

Running through the maze of hallways, they finally come to the exit and leaning against the wall Arcana turns to Krystal with his face set into such a serious visage that it's like that is carved from stone.

"Whatever happens don't leave my side, not for a second, and do whatever I tell you with no questions, Alright?"

Slightly surprised at the grim tone he used, it jolts her back to the problem at hand and she nods her head even though she is worried, "Alright, what are you going to do, all the sharpclaw in this entire base are probably outside those doors, how are you going to get us out?"

Giving her an odd little half-smile as her stands and faces the door, he his cryptic response only make her more nervous, "Trust me, I know what I'm doing."

Pushing the door open with one arm as he remains against the wall to prevent anyone from getting a bead on him, he yells to the gun-wielding reptiles, "'Don't shoot, we're coming out."

Seeing Krystal's look of utter betrayal, he quickly reassures her, "Don't worry, it'll be okay , just do whatever I say."

Slightly calmed but still on edge, Krystal nods her head, "you better know what you're doing," she hisses to him.

Walking outside with Krystal right behind him, he watches as all of the soldiers have their weapons trained on him and the commander of the compound walks forward to speak. "You will toss your weapons on the ground and lay down with your hands above your head, your surrender will be unconditional."

Nonplussed, Arcana features take on what appears to be a truly regretful expression, "I am sorry, but I am disinclined to acquiesce your request," is his irritatingly calm retort, at the commander's pause to comprehend the statement he elaborates, "means no."

Greatly angered by his refusal to comply, the saurian general barks out, "Kill him,subdue the Cernarian and take her back to her cell."

At the order of being put to death, Arcana's reaction is hardly what is expected, "Ah, Ah, Ah," his voice take on a mocking lilt while he waves a finger in front of him as if he were correcting a child," I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Even Krystal could see the muscles tense in the commander's jaw as he growled out,"and why wouldn't I want to kill you, it seems like a very good idea to me."

The slight grin that was slowly spreading, now reaches what usually characterize a seriously unbalanced mind and causes the commander to suddenly take a step back as an ice cold sliver of terror worked up his spine.

"Oh, I wouldn't want to kill me because appearances can be deceiving and," pausing as a single explosion rocks the area as it completely destroys one of the guard towers, " because I have placed explosives all over your base like that one, and if you don't let us leave or either of us die, then they all go off."

His grin doesn't waiver in the slightest as the base leader's expression shifts from fear of losing his life, to unyielding hatred as he realizes that he has been beaten.

"Leave now, if we ever see you again _**you will die**_ and we will capture the fox bitch," he all but spat out, then he turns to his underlings and orders them to lower their weapons and commands them to find the explosives immediately.

Grabbing the hand of a completely stunned Krystal, "come on, we gotta go before they change their mind, and I don't want to have to save your ass twice in the span of a couple hours, I mean that would totally suck," he whispers in her ear as he begins to drag her towards the entrance. Gathering her wits, Krystal shakes of the unbelievable experience and worries more about getting the hell out of here and decides to get her answers when they aren't in mortal danger. As they headed towards the end of this ordeal Arcana looked over at the one he risked his life for and notices her shiver, whether it was from an actual chill or if it was from something mental, it doesn't matter and he would be damned if he went through all this shit and she was struck down by a cold or perhaps more likely would be an overachieving soldier looking to earn some brownie points by catching her in the back during their escape, so he shrugs off his heavy, multi-weave jacket and wraps it around her.

Krystal's eyes go wide at the sudden comforting gesture by the one who just killed dozens of sharpclaw without a thought, threatened their entire base without backing down, the devil-may-care cynic. Turning his head, Arcana gives her a lop-sided grin, "don't bother reading into it, after the huge pain-in-the-ass that was saving you, I'll be damned if you take a dirt nap because of the motherfucking sniffles."

Shaking her head, she pushed aside the thoughts of the enigma that is Arcana, and simply relished the comfort that came from the heavy coat and the residual warmth that it held from the previous wearer.

Dashing past the gates, they are assaulted by the deafening boom of the remaining half a dozen explosives as they detonated with Krystal clutching her ears in pain and Arcana having to support her lest she collapse. Continuing out the gates, they hear the voice of the commander scream out above the chaos, "_**AFTER THEM, CAPTURE THE ALIEN AND THE FOX BITCH!! I WILL MAKE THEM SUFFER FOR THIS, I WILL MAKE THEM SUFFER GREATLY BEFORE I KILL THEM**_."

Sharing a look that said everything, Arcana immediately touches his earpiece and shouts out, "Mr. Wizard, get us the hell out of here," the urgent transmission is instantly picked up by E.D.I.

"I am on route to your position, ETA 2 minutes."

Hampered as they are, the sharpclaw soldiers that are out looking for revenge are quickly closing the distance and so was the torture that would certainly follow. Moving towards a small clearing that he saw on his approach, he moved towards it faster, but with Krystal's balance still shot from the explosion he made a snap judgment. Yanking her from her feet, Arcana lifts her into a bridal style carry even though he doesn't realize it and Krystal's protests quickly die out as she sees that they are moving slightly faster and Arcana tells her in not so polite words that he'd drop he if she didn't stop squirming.

Shots fired at them miss as the shooters can't get a decent bead on them, but eventually one will get lucky, and then it will be all over. Sprinting into the clearing, there is no sign of the much needed ride and their pursuers are fast approaching. Standing in the center of the glade, Arcana sets his temporary passenger back on her feet, seeing as they aren't going anywhere because this is the only place for three miles that E.D.I. can land without heading back towards the sharpclaws.

The hunting party soon comes to the edge of the tree line and there is no way out that would keep either one alive, so turning towards his companion he reached into his pocket and handed her the silenced 9mm, because she most likely couldn't efficiently handle either one of the larger rifles, "if I'm going to die, I'm going to take those bastards with me!"

Flicking off the safety, Krystal stands back to back with the dark haired puzzle and silently wished that she had more time to figure him out. Ready to face their likely demise, they weren't prepared for the entire edge of the clearing to go up like a roman candle, Arcana's reaction is a little less dignified than Krystal's quiet, "Thank the spirits."

"E.D.I. you beautiful son of a bitch, you just had to wait till the last second didn't you."

"Incorrect, it was not possible for me to arrive to this position any sooner."

"Yeah, yeah, come on Krystal, our rides here," he says without turning around while he locks the rifles in the storage bay, along with the medical supply bag. Shutting the door, he turns to see that the fires are already getting smaller and the soldiers are crossing and are already heading this way, "Shit! Krystal hurry up and get in, I know it's a tight squeeze, but I only designed this as a one-man vehicle."

Running over to the jet, Krystal grabs his hand and he pulls her up into his lap, as there is nowhere else to sit. Unable to reach the flight controls, he delegates to the A.I., "E.D.I. take off, take off now and lose any possible tracking before heading to the truck."

The hypersonic jet takes performs a vertical takeoff just as the attacker reach them and accelerates into the black of night and is no longer in any danger of being damaged or even detected.

With their safety assured, Arcana has E.D.I. follow a roundabout flight plan while keeping their velocity subsonic.The pair now heads towards the only definite safe haven that with supplies and protection, both have difficult questions for the other and they are going to get the answers they seek as soon as they arrive. But for now, they will rest and regain their strength because today may have been straining physically, tomorrow will provide an even greater strain on the trust between the two and will either forge an even stronger one, or it will break this one beyond any hope of repair.


End file.
